One of the most
helpful books to fall into my hands in the last few years is a new
little booklet from The Barna Organization entitled Making Space for Millennials.
Every single person reading this needs that book. And most of the
people you supervise need that book. Based on 30,000 interviews with
American young adults, the Barna team has some important information for
us. (Dave Kinnemon, author of You Lost Me, is the new head of Barna, buying the company from founder George Barna.)
In that book, there is a brilliant illustration of a critical 21st century cultural issue called MODULARITY. Modularity means that we all tend to custom design our lives more than we used to. The way we used to play with legos, with infinite possibilities of combinations!
In Making Space for Millennials, they contrast the
typical day in the life of a 1950s studio-employed actor (think Jimmy
Stewart). Jimmy went to the office each day and his day was planned
for him. He might be making a film one week. He might be doing PR
work another week, or even voice or character training for an upcoming
film. The studio owned him, paid him handsomely, and he clocked out
like Fred Flintstone at 5:30 pm, easily making it home for dinner with wife Gloria on Rosbury Drive. Contrast this with the lif
e of a 21st century actor (think Brad Pitt), who is almost
inevitably a free-lancer with an agent to negotiate with multiple
studios and collaborators. Brad may film in Serbia for six weeks (and
bring the family) or have six months off to do the pre-work toward a
film that he may be writing, producing or directing. If he wants to
chill for a year while Angelina works a big project, that also is
acceptable. Anything is acceptable. Because Brad Pitt is a free
agent. He cuts his deals based on what makes sense for his interests
and his career.
This is a great illustration of what is
happening in our wider culture, and not only with our work careers.
In the 1950s, people joined churches intent on expressing and living
out almost every facet of their Christian service, fellowship and so
forth within the life of the organization to which they belonged. This
is breaking down entirely now, yet many churches are still waiting for
people to affiliate with a 1950s mentality. It simply does not
happen. Today, I might worship six or ten Sundays a year with the
church near the subdivision entrance, and worship with the mega church
20 miles away another six times a year. I might go on retreats with
still another church, send the kids to a preschool at yet another
church, and organize a small group in my home that is totally free-lance
and owned by no particular church at all. I might volunteer with any
number of organizations, by which I seek to live out my Christian
values. Welcome to the world of free-lance!
True, there
are examples of churches today that attract amazing loyalty and time
participation from their constituents. One of these, Embrace Church in
Sioux Falls, SD does an amazing job of creating relevant programing
that engage people multiple times a month. Yet Embrace does not even
have a category called MEMBER. Because they know its a dead horse.
They know that they have to start anew every week and every month to
create relevant ministry experiences and opportunities.
This
lack of a concept of being owned by a studio or a local congregation
has massive implications for the way we create ministry events in the
twenty-first century! Personal communication, high relevance, and clear
vision of the difference the activity will make - these are all
critical! Imagining online possibilities alongside 'in the same room'
experiences is critical!
And, it goes without saying,
but I will say it - in a world of free agents, there is no easy pledge
money coming automatically to your church just because someone is on
your roll. We have to make the case for why the money is a good
kingdom investment. Always.
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